The Kaunas District Research Group (DRG) of LitvakSIG is chartered with obtaining records from all shtetls (towns) in the Kaunas Uyezd (district) of Kaunas Gubernia (region) of Lithuania. This includes the city of Kaunas itself as well as records that pertain to the entire Uyezd.

Effective January 1, 2012, the group will translate all availabe vital records for all towns within the district, all available 19th century and early 20th century Revision Lists and Other Census Lists and Tax Lists from the Kaunas Regional Archives (KRA) and the Lithuanian Archives in Vilnius (LVIA).

Because Kaunas Uyezd is such a big district, the Kaunas District Internal Passports Project is a separate, distinct project within LitvakSIG. This project requires a separate contribution from the Kaunas District Research Group.

As of December 2010, the vital records projects for the city of Kaunas and for Vilijampole had been incorporated into the Kaunas District Research Group.

The Kaunas Family List Project had been a separate special project. It was completed in 2010, and is now available through the Kaunas District Research Group.

We access records, translate and database them, and distribute the data to our contributors. We distribute the data to our contributors in Excel format via our contributors-only website (http://kaunas.shutterfly.com). As part of LitvakSIG’s overall mission, our group data is made publicly available in the LitvakSIG All Lithuania Database (ALD) 18 months from when members first receive access but only via the web interface and not in Excel format.

Since the Kaunas DRG was established, we have spent over $35,000 on acquiring, translating and distributing data (records) for Kaunas Uyezd and the shtetls in Kaunas Uyezd – that’s over 160,000 individual records (lines of data) and individual people! Our project is ongoing and progress is based on our available funds. There are ample available records for Kaunas District but we are constrained in our progress by funds at present.

Our contributors are people who are researching ancestors from any shtetl in Kaunas Uyezd who have joined together to make the most of our shared resources. Since many of our ancestors lived in one place but worked, were officially registered, owned property or assets, or had relatives in other places nearby, it is only by researching on the broader geographic scale of the uyezd that one can be sure where a family was really "from" and that one has searched thoroughly.

Shtetls in Kaunas Uyezd are:

Ariogala, Babtai, Cekiske, Dotnuva, Grinskiskis, Jonava, Josvainiai, Juodoniai, Kaunas (city), Kedainiai, Krakes, Labanava, Rumkiskes, Sanciai, Seredzius, Siapaberze, Surviliskis, Vandziogala, Vasiliskis, Veliuona, Vilijampole, Vilkija, Zeimai

We hope you will consider becoming a qualifying contributor at the $100 level or more to the Kaunas District Research Group. Effective January 1, 2012, a $100 contribution provides early access for a 5 year cycle, based on calendar years. Instructions on how to contribute may be found here If you have questions, you may contact the Group Coordinator This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it